This invention relates to a data processing system workstation, and, more particularly, to a workstation which is climatized by selectively utilizing the heat generated during system operation to produce controlled amounts of heat within selected areas of the workstation, such as the keyboard.
Data processor operators typically spend considerable periods of time each day seated at terminals entering data and other functions via a keyboard and a mouse while viewing a monitor screen. Some locations may be inadequately heated during cold months or have excessive air conditioning applied during hot months. For either case, the efficiency of the operator may be impaired due to physical discomfort. As is well known, a person's extremities are the most sensitive to temperature extremes and, especially with cold, slightly numb fingers and toes create a physical discomfort that may be translated into errors such as typing errors created by numb fingers.
The present invention is directed towards a means for providing warmth to an operator's extremities by selectively channeling some of the heat generated by the data processing system into and around the keyboard or downward onto the location normally occupied by an operator's feet. The heat is typically generated within the main processor which, houses, the circuit boards and power supplies associated with computer and data processing functions. Excess heat is conventionally vented through an opening in the machine via a cooling fan. The amount of heat generated in this manner is not insignificant. For example, a Xerox 6085 (1186) workstation dissipates between 1058 and 1871 BTU/hr., depending on configuration. Recent measurement of a typical 6085 operating in an ambient temperature of 75 degrees F., showed a processor exhaust air temperature of 91 degrees. A Sun SPARC Station-I was measured at 89 degrees. Rather than allow the heat to be wasted, the present invention discloses a system that exhausts air from the main processor into selected areas of the operator workstation. More particularly, the present invention is directed towards a data processing system including, in combination, a main processor incorporating means within the processor housing to vent air heated during operation, an operator workstation for entering and viewing data transferred between said processor and said workstation, and air coupling means connected between said processor and said workstation to conduct, vented heated air into selected areas of said workstation.